Reinforced beam structure



March 1962 K. 1.. MOCLUER ET AL 3,025,021

REINFORCED BEAM STRUCTURE Filed Aug. 26, 1959 INVENTOR L WAR/PE/Vfi SHARP ATTORNEY 3,025,621 REINFORED BEAM STRUCTURE Kenneth L. McCluer and Warren D. tiharp, Jackson, Mich, assignors to Hayes Industries, line, Jackson, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed Aug. 26, 1959, Ser. No. 836,192 6 Claims. (Cl. 242-4184) The invention relates to spool-like devices employed in the textile industry for the storage and dispensing of thread, fiber and yarn commonly called warp beams. In particular, the invention pertains to means for reinforcing the flanges of warp beams to prevent fracture of the flange adjacent the hub and to minimize deflection of the flange when the beam is loaded.

Warp beams as used in the textile field consist of a metal cylindrical shaft having heads -at each end having radial flanges which define a cylindrical annulus whereby the thread is wound on the cylinder between the flanges. As the thread is tightly wound on the cylinder to a considerable depth, the thread exerts a force on the flanges in an axial direction and hence the flanges must be of suflicient strength to resist this force without undue deflection. While strength may be constructed into the heads by using heavy wall and hub thicknesses, it is desirable that the warp beam be of as light a weight as possible and for this reason the heads are often formed of aluminum alloy material,

It is thus an object of the invention to provide a means for reinforcing warp beam heads wherein the weight of the heads may be reduced without the sacrifice of critical and necessary strength characteristics.

Another object of the invention is to provide a means for reinforcing warp beam heads wherein the areas most likely to fail may be pre-stressed to known values sufficient to effectively prevent fracturing.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide inexpensive means for reinforcing warp beam heads wherein existing flanges may be reinforced with little modification and such reinforcement is unobtrusive and in no way affects the operation or use of the beam.

These and other objects of the invention arising from the structure and relationships of an embodiment thereof will be apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a sectional elevational view of a warp beam in accordance with the invention showing the heads assembled to the shaft, which is broken away at the center for purposes of illustration.

FIG. 2 is a sectional elevational detail view of the hub portion of a head in accordance with the invention and taken along line lIII of FIG. 3, and

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the outer face of a warp beam head such as taken from the right of FIG. 2.

The general construction of a Warp beam in assembled relation is illustrated in FIG. 1 wherein it will be observed that a tubular cylindrical shaft is provided at each end with a head 12. The heads 12 are centrally provided with hub portions 14 which are bored and recessed to receive bearing spindles 16 on which the warp beam may be rotatably supported. Flanges 18 are integrally formed on heads 12 and radially extend therefrom to confine the thread upon the shaft 10. The inside face of flanges 18 is polished to a smooth planar surface and the outside face of the flanges are ribbed at 2%} for reinforcement, note FIG. 3. The ribs 20 strengthen the flange proper while maintaining a relatively low weight and the heads are preferably constructed from aluminum alloy to reduce the weight of the warp beam. The ribs 20 separate recesses 24 defined in the outer face of the flanges and the inner side of the recesses 24 includes an inclined face 26, FIG. 2, adjacent the hub portions 14.

States atent The hub portions 14 are provided with screw threads at 28 formed on a sleeve portion 30 which cooperate with threads formed on the shaft 10 whereby the heads 12 may be firmly aflixed to the shaft. It is of vital importance that this connection be of high strength and hence buttresstype screw thread structure, of the type described in the United States Patent No. 2,683,573, is preferably employed.

The sleeve portion 30 is formed to define an annular recess-Which reduces the amount of material in the hub, and as shown in FIG. 2, the recess 32 includes a conical outer surface 34.

The thread or other filamentary material is wound upon the shaft 10 throughout the axial length thereof and hence the thread will engage the inner faces of the flanges 18. As the thread is usually wound quite tight and often is of a depth almost equal to the radial depth of the flanges, considerable axial force is exerted against the inner faces of the flanges and it is not uncommon for the flanges to fracture in the area of line A of FIG. 2 after being in use for a period of time.

In order to achieve the above stated objects of the invention, it is desired to reinforce the heads 12 in the junction region of the flanges and hub to prevent the type of fracture that occurs at line A. This area may readily be strengthened by drilling a plurality of holes 36 through the hub 26 which intersect face 26 and surface 34 and therefore pass through the area most likely to fail. Steel tension rods 38 are inserted through holes 36 and nuts 40 and washers 42 cooperate with the threaded ends of the rods to complete the reinforcement assembly. The face 26 and surface 34 are spot faced concentric to the holes 36 whereby the washers 42 will be maintained perpendicular to the axis of rods 38 to insure uniform stress on the rods. As shown in FIG. 3, six tension rods equally spaced about the hub provide an effective reinforcement and upon tightening nuts 41} to a degree suflicient to place the rods under a tension just below the yield point of the rods, 2100 lbs. in the commercial embodiment, the resistance to fracturing of the flange has been increased by as much as 30%.

From FIG. 2 it will be apparent that the tension rods 38 are disposed at approximately right angles to the line most likely to fracture and hence the pressure exerted on the hub and flange by the tension rods is efficiently utilized. As the inner ends of the tension rods terminate within the hub 14 and shaft 10 and the outer rod ends terminate within the recesses 24-, the rods do not interfere with the use of the warp beam nor become a hazard to the operator or filament wound on the warp beam.

It will be appreciated that an important feature of the tension rods 38, besides fracture control, results from the increased resistance to outward flange deflection provided by reinforcing the heads as described. As outward deflection of the flanges may cause the threads wound upon the beam to become tangled it is important that such deflection be minimized and as the tension rods produce force vectors which oppose the force exerted on the flanges deflection of the flanges will be reduced by the rods. The heads 12 are formed with several types of sectional configurations and some head designs permit the outer end of the rods 33, eg the left end of the rods 38 as viewed in FIG. 2, to be located at a radial position greater than that possible with the head configuration of the illustrated embodiment and it is advisable to locate the holes 36 such that the outer rod ends will be at a radial position which will provide the maximum resistance to flange deflection.

The reinforcing means of the invention may be employed with many existing, non-reinforced warp beam beads by merely locating and drilling holes to receive the tension rods. It will thus be apparent that the invention provides a simple, yet efficient, means for reinforcing warp beam flanges and it is intended that the scope of the invention be defined only by the following claims.

We claim:

1. In a warp beam adapted to carry a filamentary material comprising a shaft having an axis and a pair of heads, said heads including a hub portion and a radial flange extending from said hub portion and elongated tensioned reinforcing means, having inner and outer ends, interposed between said hub and flange portions radially passing through the junction thereof, said reinforcing means outer end being a greater radial distance from said axis than said inner end such that deflection and fracturing of said flange is resisted.

2. In a warp beam as in claim 1, wherein said reinforcing means comprises tension rods and means associated with said tension rods adapted to predetermine the tension thereof.

3. In a Warp beam adapted to carry a plurality of windings of filamentary material comprising a tubular shaft defining a cylindrical surface and having a pair of end heads affixed thereto, said heads including a hub portion and radial flanges formed integral with said hub portion extended therefrom, a first surface defined on the inside of said hub, a second surface defined on the outside of said flange, a plurality of radially extending holes defined in said head intersecting said first and second surfaces and passing through the junction of said hub portion and flange and tension rods extending through said holes adapted to react against said first and second surfaces to pre-cornpress the portion of said heads comprising the junction of said hub portion and said flanges.

4. In a warp beam as in claim 3 wherein said tension rods include threads upon at least one end thereof and a nut associated with said threads reacting against one of said surfaces for tensioning said rods.

5. In a warp beam as in claim 3 wherein said cylindrical shaft surface is intermediate the radial locations of said first and second surfaces with respect to the beam axis.

6. In a Warp beam as in claim 3 wherein the intersection of said holes with said first surface is of less radial dimension with respect to the axis of the beam than said cylindrical surface and the intersection of said holes with said second surface is of greater radial dimension than said cylindrical surface.

Cary July 13, 1954 Harris et al Mar. 22, 1955 

